Feed-water heater



C. A. GILMOHE.

FEED WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1915.

Patented Deo. 28, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

:[AueI'Io/Z CA. Gilmore.

C. A. GILIVIORE.

FEED WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1915.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES A. GILMORE, 0F MCCOMB, MISSISSIPPI.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

Application led May 4,

To all whom t may conce/rn:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. GILM'ORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at McComb, in the county of Pike and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Water Heaters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

y invention relates to improvements in boilers especially adapted for use on locomotive and other steam engines and has for its primary object the provision of inexpensive means by which the water will be quickly heated and converted into steam so that fuel economy will be permitted.

Another object of importance is\to pro.- vide feed water heater means of the character described which includes a number of pipes that are arranged within the fire box and operatively connected with the boiler and inlet pipe therefor in such manner that the water is heated prior to being admitted to the boiler and the cold water at the lower part of the boiler caused to circulate and be heated thus providing an expeditious heating of the water and causing it to be readily 'converted into steam.

This invention further aims to improve steam boilers, so as to render them more practical and eiiicient, inexpensive to maintain in working condition and operate and resides in the provision of extremely simple and reliable feed water heating means that may be readily attached to locomotives and other steam boilers without necessitating any material cha-nge in the construction of the boiler.

IVith these and other objects in View the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the feed water heating means in diagram and attached to a locomotive boiler,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

1915. Serial No. 25,750.

Fig 2 is a fragmentary detail sectional v1ew of the coupling member to connect the several plpes of the-device with the boiler and feed pipe thereof,

Flg. is a longitudinal fragmentary sectional v1 ew of a boiler showing my feed water heatlng means in position therein and being broken away in part,

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3,

F 1g. is a plan view of the distributing reservoir.

Like numerals of reference designate correspondlng parts in all the figures of the drawings. y In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the preferred embodiment of mv lnvention, 1 designates the back head, 2 the crown sheet, 3the outer shell,4 the fire tubes and 5 the firebox of a locomotive boiler of a well known construction. Arranged on each side of the boiler, and leading from any well known form of injector` not shown, is a water inlet or feed pipe 6. These pipes are provided with swinging check Valves 7 of any well known construction. Vertical pipes 9 are connected at their upper ends with the feed pipes 6 adjacent the check valves 7, and they extend to a point beneath the boiler where they are connected to coupling members 10. The coupling members 10 are each provided with a plurality of nipples 11, 11a, 11b, and 11C. The upper nipples 11 are screw threaded exteriorly as at 12 and turned within openings formed in the under side of the outer shell 3 in advance of the throat sheet 12a. The lower nipples 11b are provided with plugs 13 which may be -removed when it is desired to clean the coupling members 'and other parts of the device. The lower ends of the pipes9 have threaded engagement with the walls of openings 14 formed in caps 15 threaded uponthe nipples 11a. Injector nozzles 16 have their forward ends threaded into the openings 14; and communicate with the pipes 9. The injector nozzles-16 are of considerably less diameter than the nipples 11a and 11c through which they extend, and they are approximately of the same diameter as the pipes 9. The rear ends of the injector nozzles 16 extend into pipes 17a whlch connect the coupling members 10 to the front sides of a water distributing reservoir 18a and which establish communication between the coulli) pling members and the reservoir. The nipples 11 are threaded upon the front ends of the pipes 17, the parts being held in firm connection by jam nuts 18 which are threaded upon the pi es 17n and which engage the nipples 11"'. which is provided with an attaching flange 18", is located beneath and bolted to the under side of boiler between the throat sheets 12 and the coupling members 10. A lower series of heating pipes 17 and an upper series of heating pipes 22, which communica-te with the rear side of the reservoir 18, extend upwardly and rearwardly through the throat sheet 12 and tube sheet 12b into the fire box 5. The upper ends of the heating pipes 17 and 22 pass through the back sheet 1 and communicate with the waters ace between this sheet and the back head 1. he upper rear ends of the pipes 17 and 22 are flared or rolled as at 20 to engage the rear side of the back sheet 1 and prevent leakage into the firebox. To prevent leakage at the points where the pipes 17 and 22 pass through the throat sheet 12'n and tube sheet 12", sleeves 2 1 are provided. These sleeves have their ends flared or rolled to establish a liquid tight connection with the tube and throat sheets. The rear side of the reservoir 18n is provided with an upper series and a lower series of short pipe sections 17b which communicate with the reservoir and which extend rearwardly therefrom. These pipe sections are provided with unions 17 which have ,threaded engagement with the front ends of the pipes 17 and 22. To enable the pipes 17 and 22 to be l cleaned, removable plugs 24 are arranged in the back head 1 in alinement with the rearends of the pipes. By removing the plugs 13 and the plugs 24, the entire device may be cleaned.

The location of the reservoir 18 beneath the boiler in 'advance of the throat sheet 12, and the location of the coupling members 10 beneath the boiler in advance of the reservoir 18, causes water to circulate in a rearward direction through the coupling memT bersl 10, the pipe sections 17, the reservoir 18, the pipe sections 17b and the pipes 17 and 22; prevent the reservoir, coupling members, pipe sections 17, pipe sections 17h and unions 17c from being affected by the heat of the firebox; and permit easy access to these parts. As the injector nozzles 16 extend beyond the coupling members 10 into the pipe sections 17, the flow of the feed water will not interfere with the circulation of the boiler water through the couplings 10, pipe sections 17a, reservoir 18, pipe sections 17b and pipes 17 and 22. The front ends of the injector nozzles 16 are connected to the feed water pipes 9.

To increase the effectiveness of the feed water heating means, I provide a fire arch he distributing reservoir 18 25 that is preferably composed of brick and arranged upon the pipes 22 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings.

The arch 25 is so arranged that the flames from the fire in the fire box will extend upwardly in a rearwardly inclined plane and then forwardly thus providing intense heat adjacent to the pipes 17 and 22 and returning a certain amount of the heat to the arch so that the pipes will be readily heated.

In operation all the water is fedl to the boiler through the feed pipes 9, nozzles 11, and pipes 17 and 22. The water at the lower part of the boiler is the coldest and as the water in the pipes 17 and 22 is at a higher temperature, the weight of the cold water in the lower part of the boiler will force the water down through the coupling 10 and into the distributing reservoir and up through the heating pipes 17 and 22 when the injector of the ordinary feed water system (not shown) is shut off. When the in` jector is operating the water will pass through the feed pipes 6 and 9 and through the coupling 10 into the distributing reservoir and then through the pipes 17 and 22 to the boiler. It will thus be seen that a circulatory system is provided and that the water will be thoroughly heated prior to its admission to the boiler.

In practice I have found that the form of my invention illustrated in the drawings and referredl to in the above description, as the preferred embodiment, is the most ellicient and practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize thefact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, when required, without sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention, as set forth.

What is claimed is 1. In a feed water heater, the combination with a locomotive boiler and its firebox, of water heating pipes arranged in the firebox and having their rear ends communicating with the water space between the back head and the back sheet of the irebox and having their front ends extending through the tube and throat sheets of the boiler, a water distributing reservoir located beneath and secured to the under side of the boiler in advance of the front ends of the heating pipes, means establishing communication between the front ends of the pipes and the reservoir, a coupling located beneath and secured to the boiler in advance of the reservoir and communicating with the bottom of the boiler, means establishing communication between the coupling and the reservoir, and injector nozzles extending rearwardly through the coupling, and a feed pipe communicating with the front end of the nozzle.

2. In a feed water heater, the combination with a locomotive boiler and its irebox, of water heating pipes arranged in the firebox and having their rear ends communicating with the water space between the back head and back sheet of the firebox and having their front ends extending through the tube and throat sheets of the boiler, a water distributing reservoir located beneath and secured to the under side of the boiler in advance of the front ends of the heating pipes, pipe sections carried by the rear wall of the reservoir and communicating with the reservoir, unions connecting the pipe sections and the front ends of the heating pipes, a pipe section carried by the front wall of the reservoir and communicating with the reservoir, a. coupling located beneath and secured to the under side of the boiler in advance of the reservoir and communicating with the bottom of the boiler, a union connecting the front pipe sections and coupling, an injector nozzle passing rearwardly .through the coupling into the front pipe section, and a feed pipe communicating with the front end of the injector nozzle.

3. In a feed water heater, the combination with a locomotive boiler and its rebox, of a water distributing reservoir located beneath the boiler in advance of the irebox, water heating pipes extending rearwardly from the reservoir into the iirebox and communicating at their rear ends with the water space between the back head and back sheet of the rebox, a coupling located beneath the boiler in advance of the reservoir and communicating with the bottom of the boiler, means establishing communication between the coupling and reservoir, an injector nozzle passing rearwardly through openings alining with said heatingpipes,

plugs removably secured in Said openings, a water distributing reservoir secured to the under side of the boiler in advance of the front ends of the heating pipes, pipe sections carried by the rear wall of the reservoir and communicating with the reservoir, unions detachably connecting the pipe sections and front ends of the heating pipes, a coupling removably secured to the under side of the boiler and communicating with the bottom thereof, a pipe section carried by the front wall of the reservoir and communicating therewith, a union detachably connecting the front pipe section to the coupling, an injector nozzle passing rearwardly through the coupling into the front pipe Section, and a feed pipe communicating with the front end of the injector nozzle and detachably connected thereto, and a removable plug closing the lower side of the coupling.

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. GILMORE.

Witnesses HARRY W. STEWART, HUGH T. CAUSEI. 

